Friday, August 29, 2008

A Pattern by YarnThrowerThis pattern was inspired by Ruth's "Perfect" Baby Booties, though my construction method is quite different, eliminating the seam found along the back and center bottom of many baby bootie patterns. (After searching online **unsuccessfully** for a "seamless" baby bootie pattern, I decided to figure one out on my own...)

This particular pattern begins at the cuff of the bootie and works down toward the bottom. If you prefer working from the bottom up, I've also posted a "Baby Booties Without Seams (bottom up)" pattern.

(This pattern is the property of YarnThrower and may not be reproduced except for one copy for individual use. If you print or distribute this pattern without YarnThrower's written permission, you are stealing.)

Needles required: Size 5 DPN's

Yarn required: DK or Sport weight

Directions:

Cuff:

Cast-on 36 stitches.

Joining to work in the round, *K2P2* for 20 rounds.

Knit 1 round.

*K2tog, YO, K1* and repeat until end of round. (This forms eyelets for inserting a tie.)

(Note: For mirrored increases, when working M1 on the purl row, insert left needle into bar between prior and next stitch worked from back to front to "make" new stitch; then purl this new stitch. When working M1 on the knit row, insert left needle into bar between prior and next stitch worked from front to back to "make" new stitch; then knit into the back of this new stitch.)

Work these two rows until there are a total of 52 stitches. Do not turn work after the M1 of the final purl row.

Slip next stitch onto right needle, bring yarn to opposite side of work, then return the slipped stitch to the left needle. (This is "wrapping" the stitch.) Now turn work.

Knit to end of round (which will be the back of the bootie).

Sides and bottom of bootie:

Knit one round, knitting wrapped stitch along with its wrap.

Knit seven rounds.

Purl one round.

Knit one round.

*P4, P2tog, P14, P2tog, P4* twice.

*K2tog, K20, K2tog* twice.

*P3, P2tog, P12, P2tog, P3* twice.

*K2tog, K16, K2tog* twice.

*P2, P2tog, P10, P2tog, P2* twice.

*K2tog, K12, K2tog* twice. (28 stitches)

Place first 14 stitches of round on one dpn; place the rest of the stitches on a second dpn. Work a three needle bind-off.

Finishing:

Cut yarn.

Weave in ends.

NO SEAM TO SEW!

As always, I welcome your comments, concerns, suggestions -- and by all means, if you find an error or if something is confusing, I'd love to know about it so that I may improve the pattern!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

A pattern by YarnThrowerThis pattern was inspired by Ruth's "Perfect" Baby Booties, though my construction method is quite different, eliminating the seam found along the back and center bottom of many baby bootie patterns. (After searching online **unsuccessfully** for a "seamless" baby bootie pattern, I decided to figure one out on my own...)

This pattern utilizes a cast on which is often used in toe-up sock patterns. A couple of methods are Judy's Magic Cast-On and Deb's Turkish Cast-On. [I find that this type of cast-on works very well using a long circular needle (magic loop), continuing with that needle until at least the first row is knit.]

(This pattern is the property of YarnThrower and may not be reproduced except for one copy for individual use. If you print or distribute this pattern without YarnThrower's written permission, you are stealing.)

Needles required: Size 5 DPN's, or very long circular needle (40" for magic loop), or both.

Note: I used a size 2 circular needle which is 40 inches long to cast on and work the first round (because that happens to be the largest diameter *long* circular needle I have), and then switched to size 5 DPN's for the rest of the bootie.

Yarn required: DK weight

Added August 20, 2009

Abbreviations (assumes right handed knitter):

P#: Purl the given # of stitches

K#: Knit the given # of stitches

M1: Make 1 (a method of increasing which is almost invisible, done by inserting tip of left needle underneath the little "bar" of yarn which runs between the needles, from front to back, forming a new stitch on the left needle, and then knitting into the *back* of that new stitch)

SSK: Slip, slip, knit (Slip one stitch as if to knit, slip another stitch as if to knit, insert left needle into front of both stitches from left to right, wrap yarn around right needle and pull loop through both slipped stitches, sort of knitting through the backs of the stitches which have been slipped.)

P2tog: Purl two stitches together

K2tog: Knit two stitches together

YO: Yarn over (bring yarn from back of work to front of work -- makes a hole if "knitting" all stitches)

End of August 20, 2009 edits

Directions:

Sole and sides of bootie:

Using your preferred method for a "toe-up" style cast-on, Cast-On 28 stitches. (There will be 14 stitches on each of the two needles.)

Knit one round. (After this row, I switched over to my size 5 DPN's.)

*P1, M1, P12, M1, P1* twice. (Note: To do a "M1" on a purl row, insert the left needle through the back of the little bar which extends between the first stitch on the left needle and the first stitch on the right needle, effectively adding a "stitch" to the left needle; then purl this "new" stitch.)

Knit one round.

*P2, M1, P12, M1, P2* twice.

*K1, M1, K16, M1, K1* twice.

*P3, M1, P14, M1, P3* twice.

*K1, M1, K20, M1, K1* twice.

*P4, M1, P16, M1, P4* twice. (52 stitches)

Knit eight rounds.

Top of bootie shaping:

K29, SSK, turn.

Purl Short Row: Slip 1 as to purl, P6, P2tog, turn.

Knit Short Row: Slip 1 as to knit, K6, SSK, turn.

Repeat these two rows until the total number of stitches is 36, ending with the purl row, except do not turn work on the final purl row.

Slip next stitch from left needle to right needle, bring yarn to opposite side of work, and return the slipped stitch to the left needle. (This "wraps" the next stitch.) Now turn work.

Continuing in the round, knit to the end of the round, which is at the center back of the bootie.

Cuff:

Knit one round, working the wrap along with the stitch it wraps together as one.

Knit one round.

*K2tog, YO, K1* repeat until end of row. (This forms eyelets for inserting a tie.)

Knit one round.

Work K2 P2 ribbing for 15 to 20 rounds. Bootie shown in photo has 15 rounds of ribbing.

Finishing:

Cut yarn.

Weave in ends.

NO SEAM TO SEW!

As always, I welcome your comments, concerns, suggestions -- and by all means, if you find an error or if something is confusing, I'd love to know about it so that I may improve the pattern!

Those are really cute baby booties! I really liked the ones that Knitting at Lunch made with that pattern, but I'm anxious to see how you eliminate that seam. I'm always in favor of that.

I did some finishing and blocking over the weekend. Saturday, I blocked a baby blanket that my SIL Chris made. This is such a cool blanket! She did a Feather and Fan pattern, using Schoeller & Stahl "BIG BALL" yarn. We saw a similar blanket at Sarah Jane's Yarn Shoppe, and she couldn't resist making one for her granddaughter.

I helped her find the pattern and get started on this, and since we knew from the sample that two balls would not make a very large blanket, I advised her to make it a bit narrower so she could get length, and then we'd block it out wider. (The sample was wider than it was long, and that always looks like poor planning to me!) What I didn't account for is the fact that this yarn is not wool (100% Polyacrylic) and so when I unpinned it, it lost most of the shape I had blocked in. It's a good size tho, and I think it's really pretty!

I was playing around with some 'shades of red' Cascade 220 on Sunday, trying to figure out another square for the blanket for Jess's grandpa. I settled on a stitch pattern from my Harmony Guide, and I like how it came out. I worked on it while watching baseball, and before I knew it, it was complete!

I filled the sink with water to block the square and while I was at it decided to block the first Lizard Ridge Square that I had laying around. I stretched it out to be flat and came up with a 10 x 11 block, which will give me a finished blanket of 60 x 44. THEN I looked at the directions and discovered I should have steam blocked it to almost flat. Oh well! Guess we're going with regular blocking on this one!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Your post yesterday was sobering - thank you for alerting us to the opportunity to help out for such a devastating (and far reaching) disease! My heart goes out to those in your family struggling with breast cancer. Strength to all of you!

I thought your comment about us "knowing" the bloggers from the blogs we read without them even "knowing we exist" was quite interesting, too. I'd just like to say, "Hey," to anybody I'm not aware of who might be reading...

One of my friends had a baby, so I made a pair of booties for her new baby:I'm not very happy with the seams in these. It has prompted me to design a pair of booties having no seams. I've got the idea/method in my head; I'll post it once I have one knit.

So, after getting the dreaded "school supplies" yesterday (and we got a late start, because it is dependent on teacher assignments, and we didn't know those until last Friday - interpret this a few items are more difficult (impossible?) to find now) and continuing in my (futile?) efforts to get this house to a lower state of clutter, our plans today are to take my eight year old to the dentist, then visit my friend and her new baby, then a trip to Trader Joe's to stock up on their fish sticks (only one gram of saturated fat per serving) so that I have quick meals in the coming weeks as I start school full time again.

I might be sleep deprived by the time school starts -- first the Olympics, and now the political conventions... I suppose it will be good preparation for late nights studying...

Monday, August 25, 2008

Welcome back from vacation! It sounds like you had a great time. I think the sunrise expedition was a excellent choice. And Ibenholt is really coming along! It looks great - and if our mild summer is any indication, it really won't be that long before you'll be ready to wear it.

I just have a short post today - mostly I want to link to a fellow knit-blogger who is walking in the Breast Cancer 3-Day. **Whoops, forgot the link!!** She's walking in memory of her mother - and sponsoring a great contest to help raise her goal. Be sure to stop by and see what's available, and join in if you are of a mind to. (You know, I don't even remember how I stumbled onto her blog, but I've been reading for a while. Isn't it funny how you read someone's blog and start to feel like you know them - yet they have no idea you even exist! I know, I'm a bad commenter....)

While I'm not up for walking 60 miles, I'm happy for the opportunity to support my two Aunts - Betty & Charlene, and two Cousins - Connie and Lita who are all battling breast cancer. Thanks Mel!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

I've been enjoying reading your posts, and I think you are totally "on" to something when you talk about more frequent, though shorter, posts. Today, for example, I was debating about whether or not to post, since a lot has happened (for me, and for all of you, too!) since my last post, and I just don't have a lot of time to discuss it all, not that it would be very interesting, anyway... So, here are a few items from knitting and life lately, which spring immediately to mind...

My family and I went to Door County for vacation, just returning home yesterday. This allowed a lot of knitting time, and here is my current progress on Ibenholt:I have about three inches of the "collar," and just the cap of the second sleeve remaining to knit. Then there is the dreaded FINISHING...but I really want to wear this sweater as the air cools in the coming weeks, so I'm somewhat motivated. It is my fourth Dale of Norway sweater, and the only one so far which hasn't required steeks, so that should make the whole finishing of it more palatable, less daunting, all of that...though I think you know, I still really don't like finishing.

While we were on vacation, DH decided that we should get up early to catch the sunrise on the "lake side" (Lake Michigan, that is) of the "Door Peninsula," about a half hour drive from where we were staying. Since the sun rose at approximately 6:04am that day, it required us to rise at about 5:00am. The words from my five year old as DH was trying to get him moving that morning were, "I am **not** doing it!" It was one of many moments in which I really felt like bursting out laughing though I kept it inside. Anyway, it was a great morning for it, clear skies, not too cold, and I appreciated DH's efforts even though our kids weren't very excited about it:We also visited a farm, and my boys had a great time, thanking us profusely for taking them there and repeatedly saying how much fun it was. Here is a goat nibbling on my skirt:We spent many hours by the waters of the bay between the Door Peninsula and Upper Michigan. I think our boys would have been thrilled if they could have just spent the whole time throwing rocks into the water:I have to admit, at the beginning of the summer, with my nine weeks of grad school looming ahead of me and all of the unknowns involved with that, when DH began talking about taking a vacation this summer, I thought he was out of his ever-loving mind. In retrospect, he was so right to plan this great, relaxing, not too far from home trip, and we have so many nice memories (and pictures) of our family fun. It was very relaxing, and some of my favorite things were the bike rides through Peninsula State Park. Our boys are both riding their own bikes now, and it was beautiful, refreshing, all of that, and hardly any mosquitoes!

Okay, so now I have some laundry to do. More soon!Warm regards,Laura (YarnThrower)

Friday, August 22, 2008

So, I posted my plan for the meeting at church last Saturday. I decided to cast on socks for my God-daughter Renata, who requested them when I visited them over Memorial Day. She requested "pink and purple, please!" I purchased the yarn last month, and this seemed a good time to cast on. Here's a picture of my gathered materials, all ready to go.

I'm not going to take up the needed bandwidth to post a picture of my progress during the meeting. Just look at the picture again! Didn't knit a stitch! However, it was a productive meeting, and that's what counts. There was a clear agenda, a schedule, and goals to achieve. The meeting ended up being an hour longer than expected, but that hour was used to iron out the calendar of events for the next year, and was worth the extra time. So, kudos to our congregation's president for a job well done!

I have managed to work on the socks since then tho, and so I have progress to report. I wanted to do toe-up socks, and the pattern that you pointed out to me in the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits is such a great resource for that. This yarn is fairly colorful (!) so I wanted a simple pattern that wouldn't get lost in the busy-ness. I went to my standard fall back stitch pattern, garter-rib. I like the look so far! I had to have a 3-hour insulin resistence test this week, so between blood draws I was able to get to the heel of the first sock.

AND, since one of the lab techs was interested in my knitting, I was able to do some evangelizing for several local yarn shops!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Well, I don't know if you can tell - but my parents surprised me on Friday night by coming home for a visit! I spoked with them on Friday morning on my way to work, and they never even mentioned the possibility of a trip north. My brother and sil and I were just walking into a local retaurant for dinner when they called and said they'd be home in about 1/2 hour, so we were all surprised! And somehow that always translates into the disappearance of all blogging time!

So I'll start my catch up reporting with this picture of a blanket square that I completed on Friday while my sil and I were waiting for my brother to be ready to go to dinner! It's an 8" square, made from leftover Classic Elite London Tweed in a nice royal blue color. I like the multi-color flecks, so I chose a simple stockinette stitch with a garter stitch border for this square. I used almost all of my scraps! This is for Jess's Grandpa's Blanket that Knitting at Lunch and I are knitting squares for.

Friday, August 15, 2008

The week is winding down, and I am feeling better. Able to hope that at the end of the "7-10 days" I'll be completely recovered!

I have a busy weekend planned, but there should be some prime knitting time as well. On Saturday morning, my church will be having its annual "All Boards Planning Retreat." Everyone who is serving on a Board for next year is expected to attend, and work to plan and set goals for the following year. I served on a Board last year, and discovered that meetings are good knitting time! I can certainly listen and participate in conversation while knitting a plain pattern. Basically the only difference between a Board Meeting and Knit-In is that at Knit-In, I'm not the only one knitting! Well, plus I'm doing Board stuff.

I wanted to report on my latest yarn-store visit. On the way home from my 'staycation' at a nearby lake, I scheduled a stop at Knitting Today near South Milford. I love this shop and would certainly visit more often if it were closer to me (or the price of gas magically went down to $1.50/gal. Oh well, a girl's gotta have a dream!)

I had a plan going in, and that's always a good thing for me. I knew that Lea-Ann carries Noro, so I planned to pick up a skein or two for my Lizard Ridge. I hadn't seen this color before, but I really like it!

I kept it to one tho, because I also found Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, which it is well documented that I have no resistance against. I chose a rich orangey-red color, which I think will make a great baby hat!

I was sorely tempted by the Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn, but I do have SOME self control! I also picked up the latest issue of Knitters and some new colors of kitchen cotton. I haven't seen this 'long repeat' and I'm anxious to try it out. I'm also going to try a new-to-me-anyway circular needle. I'm always looking for that perfect combo of smooth join, sharp points, easy glide material. I'll let you know!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Hey, congratulations on finishing your first session! That's great, and I'm glad you've been enjoying it. Ibenholt is coming along nicely - you do still have a little time before the snow flies - even in Wisconsin!

I think I'm about recovered from my bug - it hit harder than I expected. Tomorrow it will have been a full week since it started. I'm hoping to try something more substantial than 'clear liquids' tonight, so fingers crossed.

While staying home from work and knitting always sounds appealing, a high fever kind of spoils the good time, so I didn't get any knitting done on Thursday or Friday. Saturday was good tho - I finished up my green socks!

I love these socks! I thought I was going to wear them out the first few days - I never wanted to take them off! (My feet were weirdly cold while I was sick. On the up-side, I got to wear my new socks even tho it's August.) The yarn is Jitterbug by Colinette and I love it so much I would marry it, EXCEPT for the lousy put-up. The cuffs on these socks aren't all that long, and I had ONE GRAM of yarn left. Anyone with feet any larger than mine is going to have pretty short cuffs. I love the color and the feel and the squooshiness of this yarn - but it seriously needs more yardage, especially as it's at the top of my price range for sock yarn. I have a couple more skeins in my stash, so I'll know to plan accordingly, but I can't see buying more when I know how tight it will be to get a pair of socks.

Monday, August 11, 2008

I'm so sorry to hear about your tummy bug, and I hope that you are feeling much better today!

It's been a long time since I last posted, though I'm happy to report that as of last Friday, I completed my summer session of PT school, and am now enjoying a three week break!

I picked up my knitting more in the past few weeks, and have some crazy idea that I can possibly finish Ibenholt during this three week break, though I'm not going to do anything totally nuts like sign up for the Knitting Olympics in order to push myself to finish it -- after having five tests last week, I feel I've had enough stress for one summer. The left front is done; now I'm working on the back above the "split" for the armholes... (Right front is folded under in the photo...)

I love PT school so far (though after being a stay at home mom for eight years, just leaving the house *by myself* sort of feels like going to a party), and continue to feel fortunate for this opportunity. I have great instructors and classmates, and couldn't even dream of having a better experience there so far. I've maybe said this before, and I'll say it again -- Going back to school is a great way to handle a midlife crisis, and only costs a little bit more than a new car.

The boys and I are off to the gym for a little while this morning (I can watch the Olympics while I exercise, and my boys can play with all the other kids in the gym) and then we're going to do some work around the (much neglected) house. More soon!

Friday, August 08, 2008

I had a really great time at the lake (altho rumors of internet access did not pan out!) I brought home some tummy bug tho - it's my second day running a fever, so this will be short. Let's just say that I managed to turn the heel on the second sock - and I stopped at a yarn store on the way home, so there is more report coming.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Well, it was a productive weekend here, knitting and otherwise. When I wasn't out abusing sports equipment, I managed to get quite a bit done. I finished putting 20 lbs of blueberries in the freezer, so that's done. I also froze a casserole so that I would have one on hand when I hear of someone that needs to have a dinner supplied. I hadn't been to the grocery in several weeks, so I did a big shopping, and caught up on laundry.

Much of this in preparation for a mini-vacation this week! I'm about to pack up my car and head to the lake cottage that my youngest brother and his family have rented for the week. I'll be back tomorrow evening, so it's just a couple of days, but I'm really looking forward to it! I still have to pack my knitting tho!

I won't be taking the first Lizard Ridge Square, because that is finished!

The green socks might go - they're on the move again.

So, I'd better get going and figure out what all to pack and get on the road. They say there is internet connection, so I'll pack the computer and maybe another post will be forthcoming.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Just a quick note - a little "life lesson." If you're driving a 2003 Buick Rendezvous, and there is a black basketball in your path, you may think to yourself - "My car is tall enough to clear that ball!"

Think again!

(We had to remove the tire to get the remains of the ball out. Not a major disaster - but good to know!)